Despite known dangers, PCBs used for decades in huge array of products

"Environmentalists were confident that they had ferreted out the nation's major pollutants after they put the finger on substances like DDT, mercury, lead and phosphates. Now an important newcomer has cropped up in the form of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) ..." -- Time magazine, 1971

By the time that story ran, the makers of the class of chemicals known as PCBs were aware that their product caused a weird pattern of blackheads and blisters known as chloracne. They knew it caused workers in plants producing the substance to complain of loss of appetite, lethargy and a lessening of their get-up-and-go in the bedroom.

They knew much more.

As early as 1937, a study concluded that what was then called "chlorinated diphenyl" was "certainly capable of doing harm in very low concentrations."

Nevertheless, PCBs would be used in a mind-bending assortment of products, mostly because they are fireproof -- great for mixing with oils in electrical transformers, for instance -- but also because they improved the plasticity of some products and had other useful properties.

They were even used in carbonless copy paper. "Better living through chemistry" was more or less a mantra of Americans before many ever heard the word "mantra."

		Grant M. Haller / P-I
	Tom Dubay, head of a Cascade Drilling contracting crew, marks a place at South Park Marina where he planned in September to drill for soil samples. Cascade Drilling, a contractor for the state Department of Ecology, planned to take dirt samples to test to see what pollutants might still be in the ground at the site. A barrel-recycling company operated there in the 1950s.

Then in 1968, a mistake in the Japanese town of Yusho put PCBs into rice oil at the level of 400 parts per million. How small is that? If you converted it to time, it would be about 6 1/2 hours over the course of two years.

Even at that minuscule concentration, PCBs caused eye problems, diarrhea, numbness of extremities and other problems. In that case, the fact that the PCBs were heated probably contributed to the ill effects, but it was a clear warning.

Today, everyone reading this -- even Eskimos far from any industry -- carries PCBs in their body. Today, the dirt that settles at the bottom of any given Seattle storm drain can be expected to register PCBs at levels averaging 0.3 parts per million. State regulations call for a cleanup of residential soil at just 1 part per million.

And in the Duwamish, PCBs are thought to be causing a battery of effects on animals and fish. PCBs have been associated with lower sperm counts, lower sperm mobility and sperm DNA damage. PCBs are suspected of causing learning problems in highly exposed children, as well as harming the immune system and causing cancer.

THE SERIES

Part 1

The Duwamish helped Seattle prosper. But along along the way, it became one of the nation's largest and most toxic sites.

Part 2

Critics say the cleanup plan doesn't do enough to protect local residents, wildlife and the environment.

Part 3

A cautionary tale about a whistleblower who paid a steep price for his actions.

Multimedia

Photos of the Duwamish
Maps	Historic photos	Audio slideshow

Audio interviews